“Students going into the helping professions need opportunities to volunteer,” says Lacey Nunnally, director of Evangel University’s Social Work program. “They can read all the books that we assign, but service outside the classroom is what helps them understand the reality of what they are studying.” This fall, Nunnally’s social work students alone will donate more […]

“Students going into the helping professions need opportunities to volunteer,” says Lacey Nunnally, director of Evangel University’s Social Work program.

“They can read all the books that we assign, but service outside the classroom is what helps them understand the reality of what they are studying.”

This fall, Nunnally’s social work students alone will donate more than 4,000 hours in the Springfield area.

To help connect students with the community, Evangel holds an annual Volunteer Fair on campus.

“We’ve been doing this for about 15 years,” says Nunnally. “Our students come from all across the U.S., and this gives them an easy way to meet and talk with representatives from 15-20 organizations in our community. The students have a comfort level with connecting this way.”

Andrew Hanks is a 2012 social work graduate and former volunteer who came to Evangel from Las Vegas, Nevada.

At this year’s fair, he was on the other side of the table, representing the work of his employer, Good Shepherd Hospice of Springfield.

“I grew up in a church that was very social-gospel oriented. They turned an old high school into a community center and provided free shots and other health care to the needy,” says Hanks.

“As an Evangel student, it was just natural for me to volunteer with organizations like Convoy of Hope and the Boys and Girls Clubs. There, I helped kids with their homework, did physical education activities, and sometimes I would just be there like a big brother,” he says.

Hanks finally decided to make social work his major. “I just loved it. It fit me perfectly,” he says.

He enjoyed the opportunity to share his experience with current Evangel students at this year’s Volunteer Fair.

“As a hospice social worker, I work with terminal patients and their families. I help them connect with community service providers, and walk them through the steps that will assist with their physical and emotional needs,” says Hanks.

“Evangel University helped prepare me to do what I love, to serve people with the compassion that they deserve.”

Rebecca Grant Shults has looked squarely into the face of human desperation, but she also has seen the love of Christ free the human spirit and transform lives. She puts her hope in the God who can do that. Shults, a 2004 Evangel University graduate, grew up overseas. She is the daughter of David Grant […]

Rebecca Grant Shults has looked squarely into the face of human desperation, but she also has seen the love of Christ free the human spirit and transform lives. She puts her hope in the God who can do that.

Shults, a 2004 Evangel University graduate, grew up overseas. She is the daughter of David Grant and Dr. Beth Grant, co-founders of Project Rescue. This ministry provides physical, emotional and spiritual rescue and holistic restoration to women and children in sexual slavery.

“I first met women and girls who were survivors of sex trafficking when I was 16,” Shults says. “I saw such a contrast. I saw hope and joy in the eyes of those who had come to know Christ as compared to the death in the eyes of those on the street, in the red light district.”

Shults now works alongside her husband, Tyler, using the arts for healing through Rescue Arts. Rescue arts is a method for facilitating healing, developed by Rebecca, that involves working with trauma survivors and encouraging freedom of expression in the creative and performing arts.

“In India, they love to dance, so I almost always include that just because they love it,” Shults says. “Then we’ll move to creative writing and art. Knowing these girls’ stories, knowing how powerful God is to bring joy and hope, that’s what gives me the motivation to go on, fighting for restoration and sharing God’s love with as many people as we can. The only hope is Jesus. If I didn’t know stories of his miraculous help, I couldn’t go on.”

The Shults have found their place of service in India, but she did not necessarily set out with this destination in mind.

“I went to India to give a year and it turned into another year and another year,” she says.

“I went because I was passionate about an issue. Halfway into that process, living in the homes with these women and girls, I fell in love with India. It became more about the people than the issue.”

Shults uses her degree in drama and speech education from Evangel, coupled with her master’s in theater from Missouri State University, to help trauma survivors.

“I added the education major at Evangel to be practical,” Shults says. “I’m so glad I did because there have been so many settings where I use my classroom management skills — in working with kids with short attention spans, in lesson planning. I feel like I got a great education. I loved living on campus all four years. I just love that I have this diverse group of friends who are all serving God in different ways.”

In the meantime, she gives the following advice to others contemplating how to best use their talents: “God uses us first where we are. Foster care abuse survivors in Missouri were the first people with whom I worked. If God is leading you to start something creative, do it where you are first. Allow God to open doors. That’s how he prepared me for overseas.”

]]>http://www.evangel.edu/2014/08/01/rebecca-grant-shults/feed/0Register here for National Social Work Month activities at Evangelhttp://www.evangel.edu/2013/01/25/register-here-for-national-social-work-month-activities-at-evangel/
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In honor of National Social Work Month, area social workers and human service professionals are invited to two special events on the Evangel University campus during the month of March. Both of these activities are free, however separate registration is required for each event. Ethics seminar The Evangel University Social Work Program and Missouri State […]

In honor of National Social Work Month, area social workers and human service professionals are invited to two special events on the Evangel University campus during the month of March.

Both of these activities are free, however separate registration is required for each event.

Ethics seminar

The Evangel University Social Work Program and Missouri State University School of Social Work will host a seminar titled Ethics: From Theory to Process on Friday, March 1, from 1-4:30 p.m. in Trask Hall 101. This seminar is designed to meet the 3-hour ethics licensure requirement for licensed clinical social workers. All local human service professionals are invited and encouraged to participate. Attendees will be awarded three contact hours.

On-site registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1, or participants may pre-register online.

The keynote speaker will be Dan Sontheimer, the chief medical officer at Cox Health.

Luncheon

The Evangel University Social Work Program and Missouri State University School of Social Work, along with the AIDS Project of the Ozarks, will sponsor a luncheon on Wednesday, March 27, from 12-1:30 p.m. in the Joust West Conference Room at Evangel University.

The event is free, and all area social workers are invited to attend.

Those interested in the luncheon must RSVP by Friday, March 22. Register online now.

For more information about either of these events, contact Melissa Summerville in the Evangel University Social Work Program office at 417-865-2815, ext. 8622.

Evangel senior Mehleena Edmonds shares an enthusiasm for life with her mentor and high school broadcast journalism instructor Dave Davis. Davis has taught at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Missouri, for 30 years and is a 1982 graduate of Evangel. Edmonds now works for Davis in the summers, putting on workshops through The Academy of […]

Evangel senior Mehleena Edmonds shares an enthusiasm for life with her mentor and high school broadcast journalism instructor Dave Davis.

Davis has taught at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Missouri, for 30 years and is a 1982 graduate of Evangel.

Edmonds now works for Davis in the summers, putting on workshops through The Academy of Scholastic Broadcasting (ASB). Through the academy, which was begun in 2000, Davis provides training workshops and materials for broadcast teachers and students nationwide.

Rolling workshops are available in the form of bus tours. The 2012 summer tour took 13 teachers from across the country on an intense, hands-on learning experience to Nashville, Tennessee. Edmonds served as senior staff.

“I’ve learned so much from this man,” she says of Davis, a baseball coach and English teacher turned self-taught broadcast journalist.

“Coach taught us, it’s all about the story,” she says. “If you don’t have a good story, you don’t have anything.”

“I got tired of teaching English,” Davis says. “I knew we could do a TV show at Hillcrest. I knew how to tell a story,” he says. “So I rolled up my sleeves and learned the technology right alongside my students.”

The same sort of energy and passion for new experiences drives Edmonds. One could say she has already changed careers a couple of times.

She made a smooth transition from high school broadcasting into Evangel’s public relations office. She also is a Social Work major and has kept busy during her university career volunteering in the community, serving as a resident assistant and completing an internship with Lost and Found Grief Center this summer.

The mentoring provided to her by Davis was a springboard. “The way Coach Davis runs ASB, the way he builds relationships with teachers, the way he cares about what he does – this inspires me to always push myself.

“Coach is never OK with mediocre. He has instilled in me a passion for the extraordinary,” Edmonds says.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mehleena Edmonds found inspiration from high school instructor and Evangel grad Dave Davis. He has led HTV Magazine (Hillcrest High School’s television news program) in capturing numerous national awards including the National Student Television “Award for Excellence” (seven times), Robert F. Kennedy High School Journalism Award (six times), Channel One “Number One Newscast” (three times) and NSPA Broadcast Pacemaker (11 times).

— Valorie Coleman, Assistant Director of Public Relations for Evangel University